Sofia, March 14, 2024
briag.bg
His Holiness Patriarch Neofit of Bulgaria reposed in the Lord yesterday evening, March 13, at the age of 78.
The Patriarch was in poor health in recent years. He was hospitalized in September and again in November with a pulmonary disease, after which the Metropolis of Sofia issued special petitions for the health of Pat. Neofit to be added to the Liturgy.
He celebrated his 10th anniversary as Patriarch in February of last year.
The primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church reposed due to multiple organ failure, the Bulgarian Church reports.
May Pat. Neofit’s memory be eternal!
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Pat. Neofit was born on October 15, 1945, in Sofia. He studied at the Theological Academy in Sofia and undertook further studies in Moscow.
On August 3, 1975, he was tonsured as a monk. He was ordained a hierodeacon on August 15, 1975, and a hieromonk on March 25, 1976.
On November 21, 1977, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. He served as chief secretary of the Metropolis of Sofia from 1981 to 1985. On December 8, 1985, he was consecrated Titular Bishop of Levski.
He was a lecturer and in charge of the Academy’s Choir, president of the Theological Academy, the first dean of the re-established Theological School of Sofia University, and also served as the secretary general of the Holy Synod, from 1992 to 1994.
On April 3, 1994, he was elected Metropolitan of Dorostol and Cherven.
On December 19, 2001, after the division of the Metropolis of Dorostol and Cherven into the Metropolises of Dorostol and Rousse, he was named Metropolitan of Rousse.
On February 24, 2013, he was elected Metropolitan of Sofia and Patriarch of Bulgaria and was enthroned on the same day.
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